...there are those that believe passages our ALL inspired from God with no intervention/manipulation from mankind(even though OT paints a rather hateful, spiteful, jealous God(human embelishment?) When does absolute love EVER display jealousy, rage, hate etc?

Unconditional love and jealousy together in the same breath is an oxymoron. Yet some focus on the harsh elements attributed to God (I believe falsely) to try and scare people to god. Kind of goes against the grain doesn't it?

Example

The following examples are but the tip of the iceberg. Feel free to comment.

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Lightning is God's Weapon



He covers his hands with the lightning, and commands it to strike the mark. Its crashing tells about him; he is jealous with anger against iniquity.



"At this also my heart trembles, and leaps out of its place. Listen, listen to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. Under the whole heaven he lets it loose, and his lightning to the corners of the earth. After it his voice roars; he thunders with his majestic voice and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard. God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.



For to the snow he says, "Fall on the earth'; and the shower of rain, his heavy shower of rain, serves as a sign on everyone's hand, so that all whom he has made may know it. Then the animals go into their lairs and remain in their dens. From its chamber comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds. By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast. He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning. They turn round and round by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world. Whether for correction, or for his land, or for love, he causes it to happen. (Job 36:32 to 37:13 NRS)



(Note that this passage also talks about a flat earth, "the corners of the earth...we no better (must be human error from the authors)

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Kill Witches



You should not let a sorceress live. (Exodus 22:17 NAB)


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Rape and the Spoils of War



They must be dividing the spoils they took: there must be a damsel or two for each man, Spoils of dyed cloth as Sisera's spoil, an ornate shawl or two for me in the spoil. (Judges 5:30-31 NAB)


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God Brings Evil



"But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus you will say to him, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel {regarding} the words which you have heard, "Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and {because} you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you," declares the LORD. "Behold, I will gather you to your fathers and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, so your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place and on its inhabitants.'" And they brought back word to the king. (2 Chronicles 34:26-28 NAS)


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Iron Chariots Defeat God



Then Judah joined with Simeon to fight against the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they completely destroyed the town. So the town was named Hormah. In addition, Judah captured the cities of Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron, along with their surrounding territories. The LORD was with the people of Judah, and they took possession of the hill country. But they failed to drive out the people living in the plains because the people there had iron chariots. The city of Hebron was given to Caleb as Moses had promised. And Caleb drove out the people living there, who were descendants of the three sons of Anak. (Judges 1:17-20 NLT)


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Pillage and Plunder



The Lord announces victory, and throngs of women shout the happy news. Enemy kings and their armies flee, while the women of Israel divide the plunder. Though they lived among the sheepfolds, now they are covered with silver and gold, as a dove is covered by its wings. The Almighty scattered the enemy kings like a blowing snowstorm on Mount Zalmon. (Psalms 68:11-15 NLT)


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God Crushes Skulls



But God will smash the heads of his enemies, crushing the skulls of those who love their guilty ways. The Lord says, "I will bring my enemies down from Bashan; I will bring them up from the depths of the sea. You, my people, will wash your feet in their blood, and even your dogs will get their share!" (Psalms 68:21-23 NLT)


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Temple Slaves



The total of the temple slaves and the descendents of the slaves of Solomon was three hundred and ninety-two. (Nehemiah 7:60 NAB)


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Murder and Conquest



Then they turned and marched toward Bashan, but King Og of Bashan and all his people attacked them at Edrei. The LORD said to Moses, "Do not be afraid of him, for I have given you victory over Og and his entire army, giving you all his land. You will do the same to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon." And Israel was victorious and killed King Og, his sons, and his subjects; not a single survivor remained. Then Israel occupied their land. (Numbers 21:33-35 NLT)


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Murder, Plunder, and Slavery



You (God) smote the slaves together with their princes, and the princes together with their servants. Their wives you handed over to plunder, and their daughters to captivity; and all the spoils you divided among your favored sons, who burned with zeal for you, and in their abhorrence of the defilement of their kinswoman, called on you for help. (Judith 9:3-4 NAB)


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God Kills the First Born of Egypt



So Moses announced to Pharaoh, "This is what the LORD says: About midnight I will pass through Egypt. All the firstborn sons will die in every family in Egypt, from the oldest son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the oldest son of his lowliest slave. Even the firstborn of the animals will die. Then a loud wail will be heard throughout the land of Egypt; there has never been such wailing before, and there never will be again. But among the Israelites it will be so peaceful that not even a dog will bark. Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites. All the officials of Egypt will come running to me, bowing low. 'Please leave!' they will beg. 'Hurry! And take all your followers with you.' Only then will I go!" Then, burning with anger, Moses left Pharaoh's presence. Now the LORD had told Moses, "Pharaoh will not listen to you. But this will give me the opportunity to do even more mighty miracles in the land of Egypt." Although Moses and Aaron did these miracles in Pharaoh's presence, the LORD hardened his heart so he wouldn't let the Israelites leave the country. (Exodus 11:4-10 NLT)


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Infidels and Gays Should Die



So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies. Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved. When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving. They are fully aware of God's death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. (Romans 1:24-32 NLT)


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Murder and Conquest



But when Israel cried out to the LORD for help, the LORD raised up a man to rescue them. His name was Ehud son of Gera, of the tribe of Benjamin, who was left-handed. The Israelites sent Ehud to deliver their tax money to King Eglon of Moab. So Ehud made himself a double-edged dagger that was eighteen inches long, and he strapped it to his right thigh, keeping it hidden under his clothing. He brought the tax money to Eglon, who was very fat. After delivering the payment, Ehud sent home those who had carried the tax money. But when Ehud reached the stone carvings near Gilgal, he turned back. He came to Eglon and said, "I have a secret message for you." So the king commanded his servants to be silent and sent them all out of the room. Ehud walked over to Eglon as he was sitting alone in a cool upstairs room and said, "I have a message for you from God!" As King Eglon rose from his seat, Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled out the dagger strapped to his right thigh, and plunged it into the king's belly. The dagger went so deep that the handle disappeared beneath the king's fat. So Ehud left the dagger in, and the king's bowels emptied.

Then Ehud closed and locked the doors and climbed down the latrine and escaped through the sewage access. After Ehud was gone, the king's servants returned and found the doors to the upstairs room locked. They thought he might be using the latrine, so they waited. But when the king didn't come out after a long delay, they became concerned and got a key. And when they opened the door, they found their master dead on the floor.

While the servants were waiting, Ehud escaped, passing the idols on his way to Seirah. When he arrived in the hill country of Ephraim, Ehud sounded a call to arms. Then he led a band of Israelites down from the hills. "Follow me," he said, "for the LORD has given you victory over Moab your enemy." So they followed him. And the Israelites took control of the shallows of the Jordan River across from Moab, preventing anyone from crossing. They attacked the Moabites and killed about ten thousand of their strongest and bravest warriors. Not one of them escaped. So Moab was conquered by Israel that day, and the land was at peace for eighty years. (Judges 3:15-30 NLT)


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God's Wrath



Look now; I myself am he! There is no god other than me! I am the one who kills and gives life; I am the one who wounds and heals; no one delivers from my power! Now I raise my hand to heaven and declare, "As surely as I live, when I sharpen my flashing sword and begin to carry out justice, I will bring vengeance on my enemies and repay those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh – the blood of the slaughtered and the captives, and the heads of the enemy leaders."' "Rejoice with him, O heavens, and let all the angels of God worship him, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his enemies and cleanse his land and his people." (Deuteronomy 32:39-43 NLT)


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Death to False Prophets



But any prophet who claims to give a message from another god or who falsely claims to speak for me must die.' You may wonder, 'How will we know whether the prophecy is from the LORD or not?' If the prophet predicts something in the LORD's name and it does not happen, the LORD did not give the message. That prophet has spoken on his own and need not be feared. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22 NLT)


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Kill False Prophets



Suppose there are prophets among you, or those who have dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles take place. If the prophets then say, 'Come, let us worship the gods of foreign nations,' do not listen to them. The LORD your God is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and soul. Serve only the LORD your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. The false prophets or dreamers who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of slavery in the land of Egypt. Since they try to keep you from following the LORD your God, you must execute them to remove the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 13:1-5 NLT)


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Genocide



Samuel then said: "Though little in your own esteem, are you not leader of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king of Israel and sent you on a mission, saying, 'Go and put the sinful Amalekites under a ban of destruction. Fight against them until you have exterminated them.' Why then have you disobeyed the LORD? You have pounced on the spoil, thus displeasing the LORD." Saul answered Samuel: "I did indeed obey the LORD and fulfill the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought back Agag, and I have destroyed Amalek under the ban. But from the spoil the men took sheep and oxen, the best of what had been banned, to sacrifice to the LORD their God in Gilgal." (1 Samuel 15:17-21 NAB)


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Kill, Pillage, and Plunder



"Then the LORD said to me, 'Look, I have begun to hand King Sihon and his land over to you. Begin now to conquer and occupy his land.' Then King Sihon declared war on us and mobilized his forces at Jahaz. But the LORD our God handed him over to us, and we crushed him, his sons, and all his people. We conquered all his towns and completely destroyed everyone – men, women, and children. Not a single person was spared. We took all the livestock as plunder for ourselves, along with anything of value from the towns we ransacked. "The LORD our God helped us conquer Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Gorge, the town in the gorge, and the whole area as far as Gilead. No town had walls too strong for us. (Deuteronomy 2:31-36 NLT)


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So all the people stood back from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Then Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents with their wives and children and little ones. And Moses said, "By this you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things that I have done – for I have not done them on my own. If these men die a natural death, then the LORD has not sent me. But if the LORD performs a miracle and the ground opens up and swallows them and all their belongings, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have despised the LORD." He had hardly finished speaking the words when the ground suddenly split open beneath them. The earth opened up and swallowed the men, along with their households and the followers who were standing with them, and everything they owned. So they went down alive into the grave, along with their belongings. The earth closed over them, and they all vanished. All of the people of Israel fled as they heard their screams, fearing that the earth would swallow them, too. Then fire blazed forth from the LORD and burned up the 250 men who were offering incense. (Numbers 16:27-35 NLT)


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Bible Quotes for June 4



God Falsely Promises the Destruction of Babylon



Send out a call for archers to come to Babylon. Surround the city so none can escape. Do to her as she has done to others, for she has defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. Her young men will fall in the streets and die. Her warriors will all be killed," says the LORD. (Jeremiah 50:29-30 NLT)



(Note: After God promises a victory against Babylon, the Israelites actually get their butts kick by Babylon in Jeremiah 52.)


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God's Sword



Then the LORD said to me, "Son of man, give the people this message from the LORD: A sword is being sharpened and polished. It is being prepared for terrible slaughter; it will flash like lightning! Now will you laugh? Those far stronger than you have fallen beneath its power! Yes, the sword is now being sharpened and polished; it is being prepared for the executioner! "Son of man, cry out and wail; pound your thighs in anguish, for that sword will slaughter my people and their leaders – everyone will die! It will put them all to the test! So now the Sovereign LORD asks: What chance do they have? "Son of man, prophesy to them and clap your hands vigorously. Then take the sword and brandish it twice, even three times, to symbolize the great massacre they will face! Let their hearts melt with terror, for the sword glitters at every gate. It flashes like lightning; it is polished for slaughter! O sword, slash to the right, and slash to the left, wherever you will, wherever you want. I, too, will clap my hands, and I will satisfy my fury. I, the LORD, have spoken!" (Ezekiel 21:8-17 NLT)


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The Destruction of Tyre



For the Sovereign LORD says: I will bring King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon – the king of kings from the north – against Tyre with his cavalry, chariots, and great army. First he will destroy your mainland villages. Then he will attack you by building a siege wall, constructing a ramp, and raising a roof of shields against you. He will pound your walls with battering rams and demolish your towers with sledgehammers. The hooves of his cavalry will choke the city with dust, and your walls will shake as the horses gallop through your broken gates, pulling chariots behind them. His horsemen will trample every street in the city. They will butcher your people, and your famous pillars will topple. "They will plunder all your riches and merchandise and break down your walls. They will destroy your lovely homes and dump your stones and timbers and even your dust into the sea. I will stop the music of your songs. No more will the sound of harps be heard among your people. I will make your island a bare rock, a place for fishermen to spread their nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I, the LORD, have spoken! This is the word of the Sovereign LORD. (Ezekiel 26:7-14 NLT)

"God's eternal will and purposes are always for the growth and well being of His children."

If indeed God's will and purpose is ALWAYS for the growth and well being of his children, as you so eliquintly put it, then...
I'm guessing you don't believe in Hell like some christians do. The legendary place whereby people are tortured and tormented forever in the name of God's loving justice(as referenced in the Bible)?

Myself a parent, I would never want to allow my daughter to be tortured for one second let alone enternity. I love my daughter. I also wouldn't want anyone on the face of the planet, that ever lived or ever will live, to suffer.

I do believe though, that God's loving justice is karmic in nature, and that is fair. Cause and effect. We reap what we sew and continue on until we figure things out (so to speak). Balance karma by understanding and rising above ego.
This fits more into line with the analogy of a child learning to walk. It stumbles along the way but the child does eventually walk due to the loving parents patience and unconditional love. The child is never given up on..NEVER (not by a LOVING parent anyway). Imagine saying to a child "well you had enough time to try and walk so just forget it, you will spend the rest of your life in a wheel chair and oh, by the way, I am leaving you too."

The notion of Hell would be very unbalanced. Eternity of suffering for a lifetime of not accepting certain conditions (for whatever reason). Noone can ever reason to me that that mindset fits the picture of unconditional love. NEVER!

When you factor in the many strange mistakes in the Bible such as the earth being refered to as flat, etc, then it is not a stretch that there were some mistakes. When issues such as slavery come into the bible as an endorsement, then it can be intuited that there were other forces at play as well. We see today governmental influences (religious as well) in many things such as publications, media, info in general, so it is no stretch that in an even less enlightened time, where measures of control were always sought, that The Bible would be a likely source to be used for this purpose.

My dogma radar goes off when people refer to God as loving in one sentence then the next sentence talk about sinners being banished to Hell for eternity. *ping...ping*